The human knee is a complex joint containing spatially interrelated bones, ligaments, and cartilaginous structures which interact to create a variety of motions. Specifically, the femoral condyles articulate with the surface plateaus of the tibia, through the cartilaginous medial and lateral menisci, and all of these structures are held in place by various ligaments. By virtue of their cartilaginous nature, the medial and lateral menisci are structures comprised of cells called fibrochondrocytes and an extracellular matrix of collagen and elastic fibers as well as a variety of proteoglycans. Undamaged menisci provide shock absorption for the knee by ensuring proper force distribution, stabilization, and lubrication for the interacting bone surfaces within the knee joint, which are routinely exposed to repeated compression loading during normal activity. Much of the shock absorbing function of the medial and lateral menisci is derived from the elastic properties inherent to cartilage. When menisci are damaged through injury, disease, or inflammation, arthritic changes occur in the knee joint, with consequent loss of function.
Since joint cartilage in adults does not naturally regenerate to a significant degree once it is destroyed, damaged adult menisci have historically been treated by a variety of surgical interventions including removal and replacement with prosthetic devices. An artificial knee joint having a rigid plastic femoral member and a metal tibial member is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,418. A number of meniscus prostheses have been devised which employ resilient materials such as silicone rubber or natural rubber, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,193 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,161. Additional deformable, flexible resilient materials for a meniscus prosthesis such as collagen, tendon, or fibrocartilage are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,894 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,322. A cartilage replacement apparatus constructed of polyethylene plastic filled with small ball bearings or gelatinous fluid is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,525. However, the known artificial prostheses have been unsatisfactory for treatment of damaged menisci, since they are deficient in the elastic, and therefore in the shock-absorbing, properties characteristic of natural menisci. Moreover, the known artificial devices have not proven able to withstand the forces inherent to routine knee joint function.
The present inventor provided improved prosthetic menisci in several of his earlier patents (U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,429; U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,934; U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,374; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,574). These patents generally disclose prosthetic menisci formulated from dry, porous matrices of processed natural fibers such as reconstituted cross-linked collagen, which optionally include glycosaminoglycan molecules. Generally, the source of collagen for these prosthetic menisci has been animal Achilles tendons or skin. The reconstitution process removes non-collagenous materials such as glycoproteins, proteoglycans, lipids, native glycosaminoglycans, and the like, which may confer additional elastic properties to the original tissue.
Much of the structure and many of the properties of original tissues may be retained in transplants through use of heterograft or xenograft materials, that is, tissue from a different species than the graft recipient. For example, tendons or ligaments from cows or other animals are covered with a synthetic mesh and transplanted into a heterologous host in U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,833. Flat tissues such as pig pericardia are also disclosed as being suitable for heterologous transplantation in U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,833. Bovine peritoneum fabricated into a biomaterial suitable for prosthetic heart valves, vascular grafts, burn and other wound dressings is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,593. Bovine, ovine, or porcine blood vessel xenografts are disclosed in WO 84/03036. However, none of these disclosures describe the use of a xenograft for meniscus replacement.
Once implanted in an individual, a xenograft provokes immunogenic reactions such as chronic and hyperacute rejection of the xenograft. The term "chronic rejection", as used herein refers to an immunological reaction in an individual against a xenograft being implanted into the individual. Typically, chronic rejection is mediated by the interaction of IgG natural antibodies in the serum of the individual receiving the xenograft and carbohydrate moieties expressed on cells, and/or cellular and/or extracellular matrices of the xenograft. For example, transplantation of cartilage xenografts from nonprimate mammals (e.g., porcine or bovine origin) into humans is primarily prevented by the interaction between the IgG natural anti-Gal antibody present in the serum of humans with the carbohydrate structure Gal.alpha.1-3Gal.beta.1-4G1cNAc-R (.alpha.-galactosyl or .alpha.-gal epitope) expressed in the xenograft. K. R. Stone et al., Porcine and bovine cartilage transplants in cynomolgus monkey: I. A model for chronic xenograft rejection, 63 Transplantation 640-645 (1997); U. Galili et al., Porcine and bovine cartilage transplants in cynomolgus monkey: II. Changes in anti-Gal response during chronic rejection, 63 Transplantation 646-651 (1997). In chronic rejection, the immune system typically responds within one to two weeks of implantation of the xenograft.
In contrast with "chronic rejection", "hyper acute rejection" as used herein, refers to the immunological reaction in an individual against a xenograft being implanted into the individual, where the rejection is typically mediated by the interaction of IgM natural antibodies in the serum of the individual receiving the xenograft and carbohydrate moieties expressed on cells. This interaction activates the complement system causing lysis of the vascular bed and stoppage of blood flow in the receiving individual within minutes to two to three hours.
The term "extracellular matrix or matrices", as used herein, refer to collagen and elastic fibers as well a variety of proteoglycans, which are secreted by fibrochondrocytes during cartilage growth and which undergo slow turn-over.
Xenograft materials may be chemically treated to reduce immunogenicity prior to implantation into a recipient. For example, glutaraldehyde is used to cross-link or "tan" xenograft tissue in order to reduce its antigenicity, as described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,593. Other agents such as aliphatic and aromatic diamine compounds may provide additional crosslinking through the side chain carboxyl groups of aspartic and glutamic acid residues of the collagen polypeptide. Glutaraldehyde and diamine tanning also increases the stability of the xenograft tissue.
Xenograft tissues may also be subjected to various physical treatments in preparation for implantation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,593 discloses subjecting xenograft tissue to mechanical strain by stretching to produce a thinner and stiffer biomaterial for grafting. Tissue for allograft transplantation is commonly cryopreserved to optimize cell viability during storage, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,741; U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,850; U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,313; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,660. U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,741 discloses that freezing tissues causes mechanical injuries to cells therein because of extracellular or intracellular ice crystal formation and osmotic dehydration.